Beloved icon of Windows history appears to be in the rear view for good

For those upset about the lack of a start button in Windows 8, prepare yourself for another disappointment -- "Windows Blue", an upcoming short-cycle successor to Windows 8, is not expected to bring the feature back.

The source of this supposed leak is CNBeta, a site with close insider ties at Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), which gained respect by accurately leaking a number of early Windows 8 details.

Other info from the site includes suggests that Microsoft will further flatten the UI on the desktop (think the Metro/Windows 8 UI style), the taskbar/desktop will get tweaks, the price will be low (or free), and the new kernel version number will be v6.3 (corroborated by other independent reports). The final remnants of the Aero UI, which was a staple of Windows Vista and Windows 7 is also being bid adieu, like the Start button before it.

The start button went the way of the Dodo with Windows 8. [Image Source: Jason Mick/DailyTech]

Neowinreports that a summer launch of Windows Blue is expected. And its contacts close to Microsoft hint that the name will be some sort of riff on Windows 8, not Windows 9, as some suspected.

(For the record you can get a Start Menu-like menu by moving your mouse to the lower left corner of the screen and right-clicking. Voilà, magic!)

I agree completely. I've read so many articles where people are "Power Users" yet they think it is OK. Bull!

Try turning off UAC in Win 8 compared to Win 7In Win 7 go to start run and type UAC.The same applies with Launching RDP, Command prompt, Anytime upgrade, browsing directories, and the list goes on. I want my start menu back, I can organize it the way I want and shutdown in 2 clicks.

I would have rated Motoman up, but I wanted to comment on his post. I loved it, especially "pretty much everyone admits that the Fisher-Price-sized toolbars called "ribbons" do nothing but make it harder to find the functions you want to use by showing fewer of them at any given time."

You hit it on the head. Hey Microsoft, get a clue... everything is going widescreen, so my 8.5 X 11 doc is getting shorter because of the widescreen format being shoved down our throats. And then you take away even more vertical space by using the top for the silly ribbon that you cannot move to the side. I could live with the ribbon if you put it on the side, other wise give me a nice simple file menu bar like in 2003, or GIVE me the choice to pick which one I want to use.

This moving crap around that MS is doing is really tempting me to look elsewhere.

Back to the Win 8 roast. Shutting down is a few extra steps and getting to admin tools requires placing all the admin tools on the metro desktop or a lot of digging through the metro and hovering to wait for the search to show up. OK, now how about shutting down some of the apps that you open. When the app is mogul, you have to use the Windows key to get out of it, then move to the top left and hover until you see the mini window appear then right click and close. This kind of behavior encourages us to leave apps open all the time. What happened to the X in the top right hand corner? How is this faster and better? A little clue here... it is not, it is 3 or 4 steps in the wrong direction.

And guess what, I'm one of the guys all my family and friends ask for advice from before they buy anything new.

So my advise to friends for Windows 8 for a tablet is pretty good from all the sites I normally read. My personal experience with Windows 8 on the desktop is not so hot. I am really disappointed and I am telling people to stick with Windows 7 or wait for MS to either patch Windows 8 to make it as good as 7 or wait for the next OS.

Windows 7: Start, type UAC, press enter or the application shortcut.Windows 8: On the modern ui type uac, change to settings or press the down arrow key twice, Enter, Enter.

Hardly EARTH shattering.

RDP is on the front of the new interface as I've added it there and the same goes for anything else I need. Shutting down is DAMN easy... set the power button to do its job

"And guess what, I'm one of the guys all my family and friends ask for advice from before they buy anything new." - Same here expect it seems that you're finding issues. Adapt, grow, use it for what it is as I have done and have ZERO issues.

quote: Try turning off UAC in Win 8 compared to Win 7 In Win 7 go to start run and type UAC. The same applies with Launching RDP, Command prompt, Anytime upgrade, browsing directories, and the list goes on. I want my start menu back, I can organize it the way I want and shutdown in 2 clicks.

I have upgraded my work PC to 8 in early September, and my home laptop recently. I have almost completely stopped using tablet since, as my laptop (with SSD) boots in around 15 seconds (10 of which is pre-boot part) so now, for acceptable wait, I get full functionality without thinking about battery drain in sleep mode.

Right-click on lower right corner has all admin tools nicely grouped, including command prompt and command prompt (admin), task manager, device manager, control panel. Brilliant. I'd recommend everyone not aware of it to try.

Yes old school demands system shut-down to be initiated from the GUI, but at this moment of time, I am shutting (or putting to sleep) my tablet, smartphone, digital camera by pressing power button... so I'm finding it natural to do the same with my laptop. Alternatively, CTRL+ALT+DEL brings screen with power options exposed in lower right corner.

My laptop is ThinkPad T410, so no touch screen. However, I've updated all drivers to Win 8 drivers (where available) and laptop's touchpad has got some swiping functionality (swipe from right for charms etc) and it works fine.

I think majority of most vocal opponents to Win 8 haven't really tried to used it. Maybe haven't even played with it for more than 60 seconds, literally. Give it an open-minded go, guys. It is good.

You might want to talk to Newegg - which just send me an email with this in it, selling Windows 7 described thusly:

quote: If you still haven't experienced the defining UI experience that is Windows 7, now is the time to try it out yourself. Windows 7 is frequently touted by users as the smoothest, most user-friendly Windows operating system thus far. Experience timeless Windows standards like the all-encompassing Window's Search, Taskbar, full 64-bit support and now with enhanced responsiveness, less drag on memory, faster sleeps and resumes, as well as a much wider range of customization options to make YOUR Windows look and feel uniquely your own.

And the tagline:

quote: Windows 7 - Definitively User-Intuitive

Not even Newegg wants to push Windows 8!

You trolls are all so lost it's not even funny. Win8 is a trainwreck on anything but a touchscreen device.s Search, Taskbar, full 64-bit support and now with enhanced responsiveness, less drag on memory, faster sleeps and resumes, as well as a much wider range of customization options to make YOUR Windows look and feel uniquely your own.

Well, fools are always first to laugh at things they don't really comprehend.

Newegg, Best Buy, BuyMore and likes are hardly my preferred source of reliable info about anything. Firstly, they are more often than not clueless. Secondly, they will advertise what they have in stock (and trying to get rid off). I have developed strange habit to believe reviews here at Anandtech a bit more.

Appleinsider is also keen of making fun of Windows 8, but then again they were keen on trying to make fun on every other Windows previously.

All that being said... I'm not saying Windows 7 has suddenly turned sour. It is as good as it ever was, and my gaming desktop still runs Win 7 Ultimate. I don't hate it because 8 is out, I like it as much as I ever have - it's only that I like 8 a bit more.

Regarding your need to laugh at people with different opinion. That's really sad, mate. Your life must be very sad if you cannot find better things to make you laugh.

Windows 8 is superior. I have a few quibbles with it: I don't like having to have a Windows ID... it's a pain in the arse to use my W7 phone with it. Although my 23" monitor is a touch-screen, I hardly ever use that feature.

Running BlueStacks I've noticed that apps probably have a little more power over the desktop than I'd like, and I'd like to have more info about it, but other than a few things here and there, W8 is considerably better than W7. You now have the option to run apps in the same way one would run apps on a mobile platform, which can be interesting.

In any case, my advice to you is to take an Aspirin next time you give W8 a spin, and maybe your head will stop hurting.

At my location we have hundreds of T410, T420, T430, W500, W510 and W520 laptops. We installed Win8 Enterprise for 3 dozen users and the response was so negative that every single one of those users wanted Win7 back.

When informed that their systems would integrate with new Microsoft surface tablets, the most common answers were "what is Surface?" followed by "Will it integrate with the iPad?".

Sorry all of you fanbois, but Microsoft failed at both the overall design of Windows 8 and marketing Windows 8 to the masses. They can force it on OEMs to sell it, but it will do nothing but drive more customers to keep Windows 7 or even defect to Mac or Linux.

Valve hedging their bets with porting Steam and their games to Linux was prescient, and other big companies like Blizzard are now also considering it as a hedge.

Games are literally the only thing I have Windows for right now. My work desktop runs OS X, my phone and tablet run iOS, and my Kindle runs whatever custom Linux install my Kindle runs. If Microsoft keeps screwing up and some Linux desktop catches up with Windows 7 while game developers continue pushing to make Linux work (and right now Source games run better on Linux than they do Windows 7), then what's to say that a few more people won't change over?

At best Microsoft will be keeping their Windows 7 customers, and that's money I gave them way back in 2009.

Interesting thing: right now the number of Windows 8 installs on Steam's statistics page is lower than the number of Windows Vista installs. I know its only been a few weeks, but oof.

Ah but you are forgetting your first click in the metro to get you to the desktop. Yes, you can do some of those tasks that way if you move the mouse quickly into the corner and hope the menu pops up, verses it being there and you can click and go.

Command prompt is available, remote is not RDP it is called by typing mstsc, UAC is not available via the run line either. However; if you go to the control panel you can enter it into the search and pull it up.

But again I am frustrated by how buggy it is to access that menu, move to it too fast or too slow and it won't pop up.

OK, browsing directories, yes the folder is on the task bar at the bottom just like Window 7 (Did you forget?), but it is only good for one window, so its not so good when you have multiple paths to search through and you may need to compare directories. But you could put a short cut to my computer on the desktop and access it that way, but then I'm adding more to my desktop

OK how do you close a window, with your mouse once it is mogul?ALT F4 works fine, but I typically close with the mouse. Oh lets do it the new improved way. Go to the top of the screen and drag it down, and if you don't drag it far enough you won't close it. Yeah, this is not better than good ole click on the X.

Oh and lets multitask. I want to have weather open and sized to a small window. Not going to happen. Some apps just can't be re-sized. This looks like MS is going for tablet mode and not considering the desktop. Where have I seen this before on the desktop. Hmmm ... Windows 1.0 maybe?

OK, now lets power down, to do this we must exit the desktop to metro, hover to bring up the charms, click settings, click power, click shut down.

So window key, hover, click, click, and then click to power down. Nice, well played.

Not a thing you said could be done faster in Windows 8 because you have to get a menu to pop up via a hover, move to the corner wrong and the menu won't pop, once you do get it to pop you can then right click verses click and go.